LemmaHow to Open and Edit Overleaf Projects on Android
By Laxmi SolutionsUpdated 3 min read
Overleaf has no Android app, and its editor is hard to use in a phone browser. You can still work on an Overleaf project on Android: bring it into an offline editor such as Lemma with a .zip download or with Git, edit and compile it on the phone, and send the changes back. Lemma is independent of Overleaf; it reads the same plain LaTeX files.
Option 1: download the project as a .zip
This works on every Overleaf plan and needs no setup.
- In Overleaf, open the project, open the Menu, and under Download choose Source. You get a .zip of every file in the project.
- In Lemma, tap + and choose a .zip file, then pick the download. Folders, images and .bib files come along.
- Lemma picks the main file by looking for
\documentclass. If it guesses wrong, long-press the right file's tab in the editor and choose Set as main file. - Compile. The first compile downloads the packages the project uses; after that it works offline.
To send your changes back, share the project as a .zip from Lemma and upload the changed files in Overleaf. This is fine for occasional edits. If you switch between phone and laptop often, use Git.
Option 2: sync with Git
Overleaf's Git integration (a paid Overleaf feature) gives every project a Git URL. Lemma can clone it, commit your changes and push them back, so Overleaf and your phone stay in step.
- In Overleaf, open the project's Menu, choose Git under Sync, and copy the clone URL. It looks like
https://git.overleaf.com/<project-id>. - In Overleaf's Account settings, create a Git authentication token.
- In Lemma, open Settings → Git account. Enter
git.overleaf.comas the host,gitas the username and the token as the password. Also set your commit name and email. - Tap +, choose Git repository, and paste the URL. Lemma clones the project.
- Edit and compile. In Share & sync, commit your changes and push them. Pull before you start editing, to get changes made in Overleaf.
If the project is linked to GitHub through Overleaf's GitHub sync, you can clone the GitHub repository instead and sync from Overleaf's GitHub menu.
If the same file was changed on both sides, Lemma does not merge silently. The pull stops, nothing is lost, and you choose per file whether to keep your version (Mine) or Overleaf's (Remote).
pdfLaTeX vs XeLaTeX: what to check
New Overleaf projects compile with pdfLaTeX by default. Lemma compiles with XeLaTeX, which reads the same documents, with these differences:
| In the project | In Lemma |
|---|---|
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc} | Harmless. XeLaTeX reads UTF-8 natively and ignores it. |
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc} | Works. For better Unicode coverage, switch to fontspec. |
\pdfoutput=1 and other pdfTeX primitives | Remove them; they are pdfTeX-only. |
| biblatex with Biber (Overleaf's default) | Add backend=bibtex to the biblatex options; Lemma offers this fix. |
| minted (needs shell escape) | Use the listings package instead. |
\printindex with makeindex | Not available on Android; the index stays empty. |
| EPS figures | Convert them to PDF or PNG first. |
If your project also compiles on Overleaf, you can switch Overleaf's compiler to XeLaTeX in the project's Menu so both sides behave the same.
Working across phone and laptop
- Pull when you start and push when you finish, on whichever device you use.
- Commit small changes often; they are easier to bring together than one large commit.
- Keep generated files (.aux, .log, .pdf) out of the repository; they change on every compile.
- Prefer Google Drive? Turn on Drive sync for the project in Share & sync, and Lemma keeps a copy in your Drive.